Romans 15

Chapter 15. Practical Consecration in Relation to the Evangelization of the WorldTo be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written:“Those who were not told about him will see,and those who have not heard will understand.”(Romans 15:16-21)We have seen the relation of a consecrated life to our social and civil duties, and to our mutual obligations in the body of Christ. But now, in the closing portion of this epistle, the great apostle reaches the climax of this thought and theme, and leads us up to the influence of a consecrated life in connection with the evangelization of the world and the great work to which he devoted the largest portion of his own life—the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. It would seem very strange if the Apostle Paul had got through a treatise on Christian life and doctrine without touching this great theme. Indeed, it is the true outcome of all divine life and real consecration. In the very first paragraph of his epistle, we find him referring to this theme in the strongest terms. I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. (Romans 1:14-16) And in the last chapter of the epistle, and the last verse but one, he closes with the same sublime thought: … the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen, (Romans 16:25-27) Here in the closing section of the body of the epistle, he more fully unfolds some of the principles that lie back of the great work of evangelization, and he illustrates them by his own testimony and experience. He tells us that Jesus Christ is the minister of God not only for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles: So that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.” Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.” (Romans 15:9-11) God’s great gift of His Son was not for any one class or race. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). We have no right to accept His salvation for ourselves, and leave a billion of our brethren, whose souls are just as precious as ours and for whom Christ died, without even the knowledge of His great salvation. It is not a matter of beneficence to give the gospel to the nations, it is simply a matter of obligation. We are “obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks,” both to the Jew and the Gentile, “both to the wise and the foolish” (Romans 1:14). We are simply guilty of breach of trust and spiritual dishonesty and crime, if we withhold the gospel from any of our fellow beings whom it is within our power to reach. The evangelization of the world, therefore, is the highest obligation of the true Christian, and neglect of it will leave the guilt of souls upon the Church of Jesus Christ. O Church of Christ! what wilt thou say When, in the dreadful Judgment Day, They charge thee with their doom? Paul’s Ministry to the Gentiles Paul says that he was specially called “to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God” (Romans 15:16). The word “minister” here used is a peculiar term in the original. It is the same word used in Romans 13:4, respecting civil rulers: “For he is God’s servant [minister] to do you good.” Paul recognizes his call to preach the gospel to the Gentiles as having just as much authority and importance as the office of an emperor or king. He calls himself specifically the ambassador of Jesus Christ, and recognizes himself as called to represent the King of kings and Lord of lords among princes, and in the face of rulers and kingdoms; and that there is One that stands behind him saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:18-19). It is this that gives courage to the ambassador of Christ in dangerous and difficult fields. It was this that enabled an Arnot to face the perils of Central Africa, and a Paton to stand undaunted before the savages of Tanna, because he knew that he represented the Mighty One who had created the savage beasts of the jungle and the yet more savage men who could not touch his life until the Lord Himself should give permission or command. But Paul used another term for minister here, that is quite suggestive: “proclaiming [ministering] the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:16). The word “minister” here is the word used to denote the office of the priest, as the former denotes the coming of the ambassador. We are priestly ministers, as well as royal ambassadors. Our ministry is not only to be armed by omnipotence and inspired by courage from on high, but it is to be in the lamb-like spirit of gentleness, tenderness and prayer. It is a loving sacrifice for God, and its work is a priestly offering laid upon the altar of God and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. This is a very beautiful and practical conception of missionary work. There is a great difference in being consecrated to our work and consecrated to our God. We may be consecrated and fitted to do missionary work, and utterly fail if He should call us to do something different. But when we are consecrated to Him, we shall be ready for anything He may require of us, and be as well qualified to serve Him by the sickbed of a brother, or even in the secular duties of home, as in standing in the pulpit or leading a soul to Christ. Paul’s conception is holy work, or a special sacrifice, and directly unto Christ, and Christ alone; and he stood as one should stand at the altar of incense, lifting up with holy hands the Gentile nations unto God, and laying all his work like fragrant incense before the throne, pleased only with what would please his Master and stand the test of His inspection and the seal of His approval in that glorious day. This is the spirit of true service. This is the highest, noblest missionary work. The Holy Spirit and Missions Paul’s glory was that God had set His seal upon his mission work by giving the power of the Holy Spirit to witness to it through signs and wonders and by the power of the Spirit of God, “in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done” (Romans 15:18). This was all that he cared to remember in connection with his work. He says nothing of the numbers gathered in, or the apparent results, as we would estimate them today, but his glory is that God has wrought through him, and that the work has been divine. How different modern and ancient missionary work! Nowadays, the record usually includes a delightful farewell meeting, the clasp of multitudes of hands in blessing, an ample outfit, a secure support, a pleasant ocean voyage, a welcome on the foreign shore, a home support, a field made ready, perhaps a chapel in which to preach, and a thousand encouragements and comforts from loving hearts and hands. Now look at the ancient picture. A stormy passage across the Aegean Sea, perhaps on the wave-washed deck of an ancient sailing vessel, landing at Philippi among utter strangers, a walk about the city in search of employment, a humble job in some tent factory, a few days’ toil at a loom, and then comes the Sabbath. Of one thing we may be very sure, that Paul and Silas did not work on this day. Perhaps they lost their job, but they kept their conscience clear. The Sabbath morning finds them walking along the riverside until at last they reach a little company of women meeting for prayer. Before the day is over, the first European convert has accepted the gospel and the evening finds them lodging in the house of Lydia and beginning their ministry in the marketplace. But before the week is ended they are lying in the inmost dungeon of a Roman prison, bound and bleeding, and their work seeming to have come to a disastrous close. Some missionaries might have said, “We have made a mistake; the field is not open; the difficulties are too great.” But Paul and Silas had taken God with them in their great missionary journey. They saw only an occasion for Him to work; and so, ere long, their prayers turned to praises and their prison was ringing with their songs of holy trust and gladness, until the answer came from heaven, the prison doors were burst open and the cruel jailer cried out, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). It was God’s way of putting His seal on the work; and so, as surely as we go into any work for God and ask Him to put His stamp upon it, He will bring up some tremendous crisis in which none but He can bring us through, and so signalize it by His glorious deliverance. This is the way that God shows His power, and difficulty is but a challenge for His divine interposition. And so again and again in Paul’s missionary work God put His hand upon the work by delivering him out of the most trying situations. Look at him at Derbe and Lystra—beaten by the mob, dragged beyond the city gates and left for dead. He simply rose upon his feet as the disciples gathered around him and, taking strength from the Living One, went forth to his work as if nothing had happened (Acts 14:19-20). Look at him again, on his way to Rome to fulfill the promise made in this very epistle, standing on the rocking deck of the little ship as it toiled in the Euroclydon (Acts 27:14), and bravely triumphed over the angry storm and the terror of the captain and the crew, leading them by his triumphant faith to the shore. Or, again, on the shores of Malta, flinging from his hand the viper that threatened his life (Acts 28:3-5), and turning the very hate of Satan into God’s most protecting love; and then going forth throughout the island, to pour into other hearts the blessing which he himself had received. This was the way that Paul did his mission work, and turned every curse into a blessing and every assault into a victory. This is the very way God still wants to send forth His workers and seal their labors with His mighty hand. But you must first know His power in your own life, and then it will be easy to claim it for the lives of others, and as the seal of your work. There is nothing that God will not do for you if you will first let Him do it in you. This is the greatest need of foreign work today, both at home and abroad, a mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. This will produce missionary enthusiasm, the consecration of means, the calling of true workers, the preparation of the power that you most need, and this will open the hearts of the heathen, will break the barriers and bars of brass asunder, and will give the triumphs of the gospel in the face of idolatry and opposition. One of the most delightful features of our missionary work in the past few years has been the remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit in foreign lands and the beginning of the signs and wonders that have been promised in connection with the last days and the coming of the Lord. This has been manifested not only in the lives of such men as Paton, Mac-Kay, and many others of our own generation, but it has been still more manifest in the wonderful ingathering of thousands of souls in India, Burma, and the [Pacific] Islands. It is still more marked in the past few years in the deepening of spiritual life on the part both of the missionaries and the national churches, and it is beginning to be manifest in the power of God in answer to the faith of His children, in the healing of diseases and the manifestations of the supernatural power of God, as in apostolic days, even in the midst of heathen darkness. This mighty work of the world’s evangelization is too vast for us. It must be the work of the Holy Spirit and the omnipotence of God. Let this be the special prayer for our missionaries in foreign lands, that God will own them, and will, through them, illustrate the wonders of His ancient power! And let it be the ambition of every true minister of Christ to be an instrument of God, and to have the seal of heaven upon all his work! Paul said he would not dare to speak of anything except what Christ had wrought by him. All else was to him worthless and transitory, and only that shall remain in our eternal record, and only that will be worth remembering which God has done through us, and sealed with the stamp of His mighty hand. The Scope of Paul’s Missionary Work There is no more sublime spectacle in the records of Christianity than this lone man, in an age when the methods of travel and transportation were so restricted—steamships, railroads and modern civilization unknown—in a single lifetime, almost half of which was spent in prison, traversing the whole world, and preaching the gospel of Christ in regions which were then more remote than China or Siberia are to us today. He says that “from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:19) and that he is now about to go to Spain, because he has “no more place for me to work in these regions” (Romans 15:23). He has so fully accomplished his work that he is at liberty to undertake a still wider range of evangelization and is already on his way to distant Spain to preach the gospel there. Where was Illyricum? It included the present provinces of Servia [now Serbia] and Dalmatia [the coastal area of Croatia], and a large part of European Turkey, regions where even now the gospel is but imperfectly proclaimed; and Spain was as the vast confines of Europe. And yet, yonder brave pioneer was even now turning his footsteps to tell to the people of Tarshish the wonderful story of divine love. With a score of such men, the whole world could be evangelized in less than a generation. The glory of his ministry was this, that he preached the gospel in “the regions beyond” (2 Corinthians 10:16). The Regions Beyond “It has always been my ambition,” he says, “to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written: ‘Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand’” (Romans 15:20-21). The churches at home are crowding 100,000 into one little circle which we call “the home field” and giving one Christian worker to every 60 of our population, while China has one missionary to every 200,000-300,000; and the ambition of a young minister is often to succeed some distinguished name or to follow into some place made ready for his hand. What an ignoble aim compared with the apostle’s glorious purpose—that he might be used of God to carry the gospel for the first time to myriads who have never heard it, that he might have a work all his own and in the last great day might be permitted to present to God races and tongues as his crown of righteousness! God is putting this ambition in some noble hearts today, but the time will not be long when it will be possible. Soon, very soon, the message will have been proclaimed to every creature and it will never be possible again to sow the seed in the virgin soil, or be the first to tell of the love of Jesus to the human soul. Let us go to the regions beyond, Where the story has never been told; To the millions that never of Jesus have heard, Let us take the sweet story of old. There is also a “region beyond” even in Christian work at home. There are many things that we can do: there are neglected souls which the multitudes pass by; there are neglected pathways which the workers do not tread; there are cellars and garrets and lonely cottages where the routine worker never thinks of turning aside to enter; there are unattractive missions and uncongenial services, unloved and uninteresting talks and toils, which the Master will recognize and recompense and say, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). The poor widow of Constantinople could not build the splendid temple, or even pay for one stone in its magnificent walls, but she could gather the long grass from the wayside and spread it along the road over which the stones were to be carried, to save them from being scratched and torn as they went by. It was a little service to smooth the passage for the workers, but when the temple was dedicated, it is said the angels wrote on it, “This church the widow Eudoxia built for God.” The other day there was a service to be done for a certain work of God, which would be the last thing that many would have thought of doing. It was not the sending out of a missionary; it was not the planting of a new mission; it was not the giving to some object which would bear good fruit. But it was the meeting of an old debt which was keeping back a young worker from the field; it was putting money into what some would call a hole, where little fruit would be seen from the investment, so far at least, as that particular sum was concerned, and yet would set a worker free to go to the uttermost parts of the earth. But God had a faithful servant to whom He whispered in the night season His gentle command, and the heart was more than ready to obey the vision; and before the week was ended that little that had been laid aside for Jesus, too sacred to touch for any personal need, was laid at the Master’s feet for this unusual claim. The obligation was met, the obstacle was removed, and the worker was left free to go forth with the seal of God upon his life and ministry. Ah, these are the things that the Holy Spirit loves and that the Master will signalize at His coming! There are such “regions beyond” for all of us. May God give each of us the glory of having our own work and not another’s! Paul says he made it a point to do this. The word used is very emphatic. “It has always been my ambition [I have strived] to preach the gospel where Christ was not known” (Romans 15:20). The word “strive” literally means a point of honor with God; it might be made more—a point of honor to the workers themselves. Then shall the world soon know the joyful sound, and the herald proclaim, “Look, he is coming!” (Revelation 1:7).